Meet Wendy Galloway & her Passion for the Varied Processes of Creating Art
I love how you can start out with the seed of an idea, or even no idea, and work your way forwards via choices and accidents.
Often the result of it all is to arrive at what could be an end point, only to be greeted with more questions and uncertainty.
The Process
It’s a process to which there is really no end! Along the way you get to learn, play, experiment, dream and imagine. Surprises of all sort await the industrious artist, including failure and disappointment. But, everything in art can lead to more inspiration for the committed.
A Love For Sharing the Process and the Art
I also enjoy sharing my process and outcomes, however successful they may or may not be. There is always the chance of inspiring or encouraging others to be creative through my own experiences.
There’s the social aspect too. Whenever I’m lucky enough to sell a piece, I always hope that it will give the collector enjoyment for years to come.
A piece of art that resonates for you can be an escape, an aid to relaxation, a memory jogger, or just something pleasant to have around improving your environment.
A Lanscape Artist at My Core
As a landscape artist at my core, I think I’m in the best place in the world. Tasmania offers so much inspiration for an artist connected to the landscape, it’s difficult to know where to start.
One of my favourite things about Tasmanian landscapes is the moody, atmospheric weather we get.
I love a good misty, stormy, cloudy, mountainous landscape and we have plenty of those.
I also find our iconic flora interesting. Iconic to me at least! In particular, Richea Pandanifolia. Some years ago, I created coloured pencil drawings using “Pandani” as my muse. The idea is still incubating now that I have ventured into painting. I can feel Pandani “landscapes” forming as an inspiration!
Inspired by Landscape
Being inspired by the landscape, I love to get out and about. Sometimes, I just walk and spend time in the wild landscape, other times I sketch or paint.
When time doesn’t allow for those activities, I’m content with taking photos. It’s all about absorbing the atmosphere and being inspired.
In particular, I’m inspired by moody, atmospheric, wintry weather in mountainous areas. But, really any type of landscape that has “personality” or atmosphere is fair game!
Thriving Exploring Mixed-Media
Currently, most of my work is mixed media, consisting of acrylics, graphite, collage, acrylic inks and other drawing materials.
I use water, among other things, to move media around and create random effects.
I’m open to using whatever takes my fancy in order to achieve an effect, as long as it is going to be permanent.
In the past I’ve used watercolour, coloured pencil, pastel and dabbled in printmaking.
Being Part of the Vibrant Tasmanian Art Community
There’s a great art community in Tasmania. You don’t have to look far if you’re after artistic company.
I belong to several art groups and regularly participate in artistic events with my artist friends and colleagues. I exhibit in local exhibitions including those of The Art Society of Tasmania and several organisations and local charities.
This year, 2023, I’ve made a point of venturing further, into interstate exhibitions, broadening my horizons as it were.
Playing with Your Art Books
I have a library of inspiring art books, so I can pick one up whenever I have time. I also make a point of visiting exhibitions and following artists whose work resonates with me. Even those whose work is not related to my own. It’s always interesting and inspiring to view other’s art.
Lessons to Learn from Exhibiting Your Work
I think exhibiting your work can teach you many things. It has taught me that everyone’s art is worth displaying and viewing. An exhibition is a place to meet people, to learn, to be amazed and inspired.
Over the years I have been able to distance myself from what others may think of what I do. I think this is necessary in order to grow into your own individual artistic identity.
Awards and favourable comments are nice, but the joy they bring is short lived. Artists need their own internal drive and inspiration, rather than relying on external reinforcement.
Exhibitions also allow you to see the great variety of work that is being made. You can see other artists’ progression, garner ideas and inspiration (not to copy, but to develop and make your own). There’s always something to take away, even if it’s just your own painting that you take home again!
Build a Painting Wall
At present, my studio is a room within our home, which is located at the base of kunanyi/Mt Wellington.
It has lovely big French doors that I can open in Summer.
We’ve built a painting wall that is great for taping paper to or hanging canvases and panels on.
I have plenty of room to do what I need to do, though I’m not sure an artist ever has enough room.
Creating Art, Continually Evoling
As well as exhibitions, I attend classes and workshops to improve my skills.
They’re a great way to meet more of the multitude of artists we have here in Tasmania.
I notice as I move further along in my art that it’s a continually evolving process, one that doesn’t end. It’s exciting to think that the thing you’ve loved to do most in your life doesn’t come to a logical conclusion or end point.
The Artist’s Journey
How do you sum up over 30 years (or longer)? In a nutshell, I’ve gone from drawing, throughout my life, to watercolour painting, pastels, dabbling in oils, coloured pencils, and now to mixed media.
The style of my work has developed from aiming to reproduce reality as we all see it, through various stages and changes, to abstraction and semi-abstraction.
Currently, I’m aiming to portray things as I “see” and feel them.
My Art Practice
Drawing is a major part of my art practice. I regularly go out making art with an en plein air group and Urban Sketchers. A friend and myself started the en plein air group POGO (Painters of the Great Outdoors) in 2008. We’ve grown in numbers since then and have been meeting most months ever since.
The Joys of Creating Art Together
Getting together with fellow artists to paint or sketch is a great experience. You see what others are doing, how they are growing and you’re inspired by them as well.
I think being with other artists is also a major skill improver. We just can’t do as well if we operate in a vacuum.
Other artists can provide you with inspiration, camaraderie, critique, lessons and motivation. And you can return the favour.
Sketching on Location
Whenever I travel I sketch on location and also in the car as we move along. Sketching fleeting vistas as they flow past the window has helped me develop the ability to sketch with few lines to sum up what I see. They’re a mine of inspiration and ideas.
The Best Art Advice
I think the best piece of advice I’ve received, art-wise, is to focus on and enjoy the process, not the product.
You hear this a lot these days, but it’s true, and there are ups and downs to navigate, so focus is helpful. You spend so long on the process, learning, thinking, fretting, deciding, experimenting and much more.
It should be enjoyed, not rushed. The product is the evidence of that adventure. When you arrive at the “product,” you’re either relatively happy with it or you’re not.
Whatever the case, you’re next course of action is to move on to the next thing, taking what you’ve learned and making more art. I think the best two words I have in my art vocabulary are “what if.” These words can lead you to probe all aspects of your art.
The Power of Practice
It sounds cliché, but the first would be practice. There’s just no way around it.
The best way to improve is to do the thing you want to learn. When you look back, whether after a few months or a few years, you will see how you’ve grown.
Be Ready to Investigate, To Question
A sense of investigation and questioning just about everything also helps. I mentioned “what if” before. I can’t just keep doing what I’ve always done as an artist.
Time moves on and you evolve, as does your art. Having an open, questioning mind will steer you down new paths to greater knowledge and satisfaction.
Recognising the Cycle of Creativity
I think one of the bugbears of artistic life is uncertainty.
Uncertainty about what you’re doing now, what you will do in the future and how it will all be received.
Worst of all there are often, during lulls in inspiration, periods when you wonder if your art has up and left and you don’t know if it will return.
However difficult it is each time this occurs, I think we are wise to see this experience as part of a cycle, frustrating as that can be. For some reason, it seems we panic each time it happens, when there is mostly no need to worry.
About the Artist
Wendy lives in Hobart, Tasmania, close to the backdrop of kunanyi/Mt Wellington. She endeavours to express her reactions, vision and feelings around chosen subjects.
She exhibits regularly in local exhibitions and has won several awards.
Wendy has used a range of media in the past. Drawing is a major focus. Coloured pencil, pen and ink, collage, graphite and other media are incorporated into her acrylic mixed media work.
Wendy’s work is constantly changing as her vision does. The chance affects that are encouraged in her work also drive its wider development. Mixed media and abstraction have become an adventure and inspiration for her.
Join Wendy online with her artist journey with her Studio News blog posts and be inspired by the behind the scenes stories, art discussions and her shear joy for creating.
Follow Wendy on Facebook and Instagram for painting, exhibition and events news.
Artist Profile Stories
I want there to be more arts and crafts in our world, in our communities and in our own lives. Hopefully you’ve found this blog post inspiring and interesting.
So I’m creating, with your help, Art Trails Tasmania, allowing all of us who feel this love to create more of it.
And the Art Trails Tasmania blog is a key part of making this happen, telling the stories of members. It’s about what they have happening with workshops and classes, exhibitions, open studio trails, where to find their outlets, markets, fairs and festivals so you can shop their creations as well as their art and craft retreats.
Also being shared are the supporters of our artists, the galleries, shops, cafes, art societies and groups, places to stay and artist in residencies.
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